Quartz mine

[Niner]

Discovered a hard rock gold mine recently on some property we acquired. 40 acres on a semi-remote canyon that reeks of Gold Rush history. White quartz all around the mountain it's sunk it to. This mine has been undiscovered for probaly 100 years, the only reason we found it was spotting a hole in the mountainside as we cleared a road down to the year-round creek below.


I've been reading this forum for a while, and see that there are experts at this sort of thing. We've gone about a hundred feet into the mine shaft with waders on (about 4 feet of crystal clear water, ice cold) and came upon a partial cave-in with an old rusty ore cart stuck behind it.

I won't go further until I secure a personal gas/oxygen meter and better light.

I'll post a few pics later so you can see what I'm looking at. Meanwhile, what else should I consider for safety's sake?

[Niner]

Darn, not familiar with the pic linking system here. Give me some time.

Trust me, folks. This mine is no bullcrap adit. I need an expert before we go back in to see what's there.

[accadacca]

I would love to see pictures. Try to upload again and check out this tutorial if needed. You have to use that little photo icon. :2thumbs:

http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?39107-Insert-Images-in-your-post&prefixid=How_To

[Deathcricket]

Very cool! looking forward to pictures. Just click the "insert pictures" button and select them from your hard drive. A concern could be cornering an animal, but with water present I think you'd be ok. obviously any planks or metal are not to trusted so don't put your weight on anything scary. It could even be covered by a couple inches of dirt and disguise it, so just watch your step buddy. but again, if it's all water not like you're going to fall into a pit or anything. dont step on any rusty nails or spikes, tetanus is a bitch. :2thumbs:

Hope you find a cool rock or something!

[kiwi_outdoors]

. obviously any planks or metal are not to trusted so don't put your weight on anything scary. It could even be covered by a couple inches of dirt and disguise it, so just watch your step buddy..!

yes - I heard of a similar story - plywood sheet civered in a little dirt, 100 ft shaft below it! Thump the floor as you walk along. Are there any rails from the ore cart trainway?

[Niner]

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[Niner]

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[Niner]

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[Deathcricket]

Wow that cart is in decent shape for being so ancient. I wonder if there is a market for collectors of old mining equip? Cool pics though man!

[Niner]

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[Niner]

It appears dirt had fallen in front of the entrance and trapped the spring water inside the mine, otherwise I think it would drain. We hesitate to drain the mine for fear of critters getting in there (there are black bear and mountain lion in the area).

Yes, there are narrow gauge rails inside that the cart(s?) ran on. We're very excited to to see what's at the end of this shaft, but are trying to be smart about it safety wise.

[accadacca]

rockgremlin is a mining engineer. He might have some tips. Others on here are in construction, etc too.

[JP]

Can't wait to see more pics once you get in.

[rockgremlin]

This is VERY cool indeed!! The presence of the ore cart within the mine tells me that the mine had to have been a decent producer in order to justify the expense and work required to get it there. Ore carts are in high demand. They're very difficult to find, and even more difficult to move. The bottom half of that cart might be rusted beyond a salvageable state having sat in standing water for so long.

So many questions...

How do you know the mineral being mined was gold?

Who was the previous property owner?

Is this located in Utah?

Wherever this is, you may be able to find mineral claims on file that would give you a wealth of information. Not sure where this would be....county recorder?

I spent a large portion of my youth poking around old mines like these. To me they're fascinating. In college I became aware of the potential hazards that I was fortunate enough to escape. The most prominent hazards are: Cave-ins, lack of oxygen, noxious gas (sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc...), animals, and unblasted explosives.

Given that you mentioned that a part of the mine has already partially caved, I would tread lightly through there.

Is there a breeze that flows through there? Sometimes old abandoned mines have a natural flow of air depending on the season. If so, the likelihood of bad/stale air is diminished greatly.

I'd love to visit this in person.

[Niner]

This is in northern California, rockgremlin. Smack dab in some of the richest gold country in the Sierras. The previous owner knew nothing about a mine, and we chanced upon it when we cleared an old overgrown trail/road. I've been doing alot of reading on the areas mining activity, not only internet searches, but also old books published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. There is white quartz everywhere on that mountain and I suspect a vein of gold bearing quartz was discovered there. There is some indications (rusty iron etc.) that the ore cart rails headed down to the year-round creek about 100 yards down the hill. I also suspect they had an old stamp mill down there, but need to poke around for more clues.

This area was mined extensively back in the 1850's through the 1880's and there are other gold/quartz mines in the general area. Once the easy picking gold was taken out of the streambeds the miners often turned to gold bearing quartz. There was also a large Chinese mining population back in those days.

We have the mineral rights to the property in case you're wondering. We also want to be safe when we explore further and deeper and I would appreciate your insights and experience. There is no breeze inside, hence my concern about gas pockets. And I found it odd that there is no echo either.

[jman]

My buddies and I have about 5 working gas meters and have been recently calibrated too. If this in Utah, we would be happy to accompany you.

Edit: lol, u posted right before me. Nm

[Niner]

Miners were very secretive about their digs back in those days and I have yet to find any old claims on file anywhere.

[TheRewster]

Check with the Mohave underground guys.
Cool find. Keep us posted!

[rockgremlin]

Sweet. Keep us posted. I would definitely get your hands on a gas meter if you wanna explore deeper into the mine. Something like this:

http://www.inspectortools.com/BW-GasAlertQuattro-4-p/bwqtxwhmayna.htm?gclid=CKuEkMyZ07YCFSJlMgodLDwAyA

Also, see if you can locate where they were dumping the waste nearby and run some of the rock through a sluice or a gold pan if you have those items. I agree that it appears that they were running the ore down to the stream to clean it and process it for gold.

Sounds like a lot of fun...wish I lived closer.

[TheRewster]

Check with the Mohave underground guys.
Cool find. Keep us posted!

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/1233/039czl.jpg

[Niner]

Went back into the mine shaft a few days ago. This ore cart was where we'd stopped on the last excursion.

Looking forward, the shaft stretches into the darkness, curving to the right.

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img10/2121/041xt.jpg

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/8206/044qz.jpg

[Niner]

The shaft turned and twisted and the spring water got shallower. About 300 feet in there was a cave-in completely blocking any further exploration. The ore cart tracks continue underneath the collapse and one can only imagine how far the shaft went at one time.

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/6076/049wpe.jpg

[Niner]

On the way out ahttp://imageshack.us/a/img694/6996/051fb.jpg little flash of gold color on the wall got my attention.

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/2234/052qz.jpg

[rockgremlin]

Very cool stuff, I'm jealous. These newer photos illustrate some interesting geology. In the last photo you can see a very clear fault plane on the left side. On the right side there appears to be some mineralization which no doubt was deposited there by way of that fault. I'd be curious to know what the grade of the ore is -- typically the old timers wouldn't bother knocking a hole into the mountain unless the grades were high.

I'd be willing to bet that fault-controlled ore body extends through the floor and roof, and who knows how far laterally going away from the fault. I think it would be neat if you took a few samples from the mine and submitted them for fire assay to see just how much gold and silver is present. Looks like there's some copper mineralizaion in some of those rocks as well.


In the third pic (the cave-in) -- is that an old flask resting on a rock against the wall on the left?

[Deathcricket]

Awesome! any plans to try and clear the cave in and explore further back? It would be creepy if you cleared the blockage and found a long lost miner skeleton! Or who knows what relics could be back there. More mining equip, pickaxes, flasks, shovels, oh man looks like fun. :2thumbs:

[rockgremlin]

Awesome! any plans to try and clear the cave in and explore further back?


How....5 gallon buckets and shovels? :haha:

I wouldn't recommend digging out the caved material.....AT ALL. Recipe for a Darwin award right there. :crazy:

[Deathcricket]

he can use the rusty mine cart silly. To find cool treasures, sometimes ya gotta take a couple risks.

[kiwi_outdoors]

why would you expect gas pockets in a hard rock mine?

[Niner]

I didn't expect gas pockets, smartass, I didn't expect anything, I'm trying to be safe here in an unstable, unexplored mine. This is new to me, I'm a construction guy skilled in above ground work. The only underground stuff I've done was when I was roughnecking in the oilfields back in my younger days.

A. From what I saw inside that mine with the cave-ins and blocked ore carts that place is unstable.
B. We have stumbled across one helluva resource. Be it wine cellar or a springwater cistern or a bug out place.
C. Mine that sumbitch

[rockgremlin]

why would you expect gas pockets in a hard rock mine?


Noxious gases in abandoned hard rock mines are common. If the ore mineral being mined was a sulfide (Galena, Sphalerite, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite, Argentite, Acanthite, etc, etc) then there is a risk of sulfur dioxide and or hydrogen sulfide gases being produced as a result of being in contact with the open air -- especially stagnant air in the presence of standing water. Those two gases are also produced as a product of blasting. If the mine was timbered, the timbers will release carbon monoxide as they rot.

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img197/228/057c.JPG

[Niner]

Found this old pick down at the year-round creek below the mine. Also a fig tree, which is out of place, but doing well and producing.

That item caught my eye too, rockgremlin, when I was in there. It's a chunk of wood, not a flask. I suspect they'd had trouble with that portion of the mine caving in and that is what remains of some shoring.

[Niner]

The pick has a stamp on it: Iron City

The forge was founded in 1854 in Pittsburgh, PA. Once owned by Andrew and Thomas Carnegie. They made a fortune during the civil war.

[rockgremlin]

It kinda looks like there may have been a lot more water in there at one time. There is a line where it appears caliche (or hard water calcium deposits) deposited on the walls, and there is a marked difference in "dustiness" above and below that line (see attached pic). Does that sound like that could have occurred just from what you've seen in person?



I can't stop ogling these images....it's like porn for mining engineers. :haha:


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[Niner]

I wouldn't doubt that the water was that high at some point. Maybe for many years. I think it all depends on how tall the blockage was at the entrance. The shaft has a slight incline to it, and the water is deepest at the entrance. There is water seeping out from under the cave-in and I suspect that the shaft on the other side is full of water.

If we open up the entrance to the mine all the standing water will drain, but there will always be a stream running out of it (unless the spring runs dry).

Glad you enjoy the pics, rockgremlin. I have more, but some of the quality isn't good.

You think it's a good idea to knock around getting samples? Should we look for fault lines?

[rockgremlin]

You think it's a good idea to knock around getting samples? Should we look for fault lines?


Absolutely! Get some samples from around the outside, as well as from the caved material, and if you can safely knock a chunk or two from those areas of color in the walls, do it.

See if you can get your hands on some detailed geologic maps of this area. Be sure they illustrate fault structures, and geologic contact lines.

I think you're right about there being standing water behind that cave-in. Probably not too much or else that caved pile would be saturated, and might breach from the hydrostatic pressure. Man, I really wonder how far back that goes though.....:popcorn:

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img46/9806/cave2y.jpg
Another view of the entrance. You can see how it would hold water.
Thanks for the insight, rockgremlin. I'll keep you posted.

[rockgremlin]

Any way you could PM me a Google location of where this is? I'm dying to do a little research about this place.

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img593/5661/028cq.jpg

[Niner]

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/6615/032wdo.jpg

[Niner]

Some remnants of the mining operation down at the year-round creek below the mine.

[kiwi_outdoors]

I didn't expect gas pockets, smartass, I didn't expect anything, I'm trying to be safe here in an unstable, unexplored mine. This is new to me, I'm a construction guy skilled in above ground work. The only underground stuff I've done was when I was roughnecking in the oilfields back in my younger days.

A. From what I saw inside that mine with the cave-ins and blocked ore carts that place is unstable.
B. We have stumbled across one helluva resource. Be it wine cellar or a springwater cistern or a bug out place.
C. Mine that sumbitch
A perfectly straight-up question get a "smartass" response? That's a bit harsh.

[Niner]

It was harsh, and I apologize, kiwi outdoors. I read it wrong. Way out of line on my part.

Sorry, bud.

[bigrockman]

Discovered a hard rock gold mine recently on some property we acquired. 40 acres on a semi-remote canyon that reeks of Gold Rush history. White quartz all around the mountain it's sunk it to. This mine has been undiscovered for probaly 100 years, the only reason we found it was spotting a hole in the mountainside as we cleared a road down to the year-round creek below.


I've been reading this forum for a while, and see that there are experts at this sort of thing. We've gone about a hundred feet into the mine shaft with waders on (about 4 feet of crystal clear water, ice cold) and came upon a partial cave-in with an old rusty ore cart stuck behind it.

I won't go further until I secure a personal gas/oxygen meter and better light.

I'll post a few pics later so you can see what I'm looking at. Meanwhile, what else should I consider for safety's sake?

Very cool! Have you taken any samples to an assayer?

[nancymalida1]

I think It could even be covered by a couple inches of dirt and disguise it, so just watch your step buddy. but again, if it's all water not like you're going to fall into a pit or anything.